aug 4, 2012

Being a part of this miracle is giving me a new appreciation for 'the little things'. Weaning off the vent is not only a bound toward rehab, it grants dad the ability of speech through the passy-muir valve and allows him to smell once again! Each day dad exercises his vocal chords for 30 minutes and wows us with witty monologues. As Padre, father Matthew Olver, can attest, dad loves to rate his lougies during his allotted speech time. The speech hurdle has been thrilling, unexpectedly quick and emotional just like the rest of the journey. It has already gained a bit of press, so I must celebrate something equally as exciting in this post. The schnozz.

The Dallas Macks are an olfactory bunch. We are not shy about getting our noses into a warm bunt cake, clean or dirty laundry, and truly respect the odorific. So, when I heard from the doctors that the new traech settings allowed air to pass through his nasal airway I began thinking quickly. I gathered several smelly items from around the room. First up, newsprint. His eyes were closed as I held it up to dad's nose. "newspaper...mmmm". His brow showed satisfaction. Next, I held up a tee-shirt that had been mailed to us from a dear friend. Hog wild written across the front and sweat stains splotched the cotton. This shirt made the cross country bike trip with dad in the 80s on the back of Mikey brown. Dad inhaled the memories and said "laundry". Although rough in appearance, the shirt smelled of hygiene and the Browns. Finally, I rubbed his prayer shawl on his face. Our church knit and gifted our entire family shawls with prayer in the stitches. It was this shawl that dad snuggled into, breathing deeply. It is difficult to identify, but this shawl in particular smells like campfire, musky earth and something unidentifiably wholesome. I held it on his face for several seconds, but as I pulled away he said "one more time" and nuzzled into the blue knit

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